Wednesday, May 30, 2012

When I worked in NY at Time Out Magazine I had the pleasure of knowing and working with an amazing photographer, Phyllis Dooney. She has been working on numerous projects, one of which was featured on one of my favourite photography sites, The Big Picture by the Boston Globe Newspaper. It is a collection of images made at evacuee camps following the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. Click here to view them.

She has also been working on another big project with fellow Time Out NY photographer Jakon Layman, entitled 'The Mighty Muddy', chronicling 'The Mississippi River and the America it reflects.". Below are some great images from this project; if you like the work check out the blog and their Facebook page!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

There is a great competition going on run by Qantas, the national airline for Australia. I would love it if you all could go over and just have a look, and if you like or have time, share the page on Facebook! There is also some amazing work by other photographers on there, including many friends and colleagues.

Also, if you get the chance some of my photos from Borneo are in this month's Lonely Planet Asia Magazine, aswell as in an upcoming issue of the international version of Lonely Planet Magazine. Thanks again for taking a look!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Compared to the rest of China, Hong Kong enjoys a high level of civil liberty, and freedom of religion is a critical aspect. The majority of residents claim no religion, or either agnosticism or atheism. Of the rest who do claim affiliation with a religion, Buddhism and Taoism hold the majority.

Traces of these two religions are almost everywhere you go in the city - small red shrines adorned with offerings are tucked away in many small restaurants and businesses, as well as more intricate and larger shrines in parks, hillsides and public buildings.

I've visited Hong Kong numerous times, but this time I decided to explore some of the main temples, which are spread out around the city. Note that the colour red is very prolific - for the Chinese, it is a colour that symbolizes good luck and joy.

Vendors sell traditional Chinese charms at one of Hong Kong's most famous temples, Wong Tai Sin. The charms can serve a variety of purposes, including use as good luck charms, feng shui additions or to avert evil spirits. They are sold here for these uses, or simply as souvenirs for tourists.

A man practices a religious procedure known as 'kau cim', commonly performed in either Buddhist, or, like Wong Tai Sin, Taoist temples. The practice involves numerous steps as follows:

"They light incense sticks, kneel before the main altar, make a wish,and shake a bamboo cylinder containing fortune sticks until a stick falls out.This stick is exchanged for a piece of paper bearing the same number,and then the soothsayer will interpret the fortune on the paper for the worshiper."

So I spent Christmas and welcomed the new year in the seaside city of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah and one of the biggest cities in Borneo. It's a really relaxed place, and I am particularly fond of the noticeable lack of taxi and merchant touts present in most other parts of south-east Asia. This post will be a collection of images I've taken over the course of over a week or so in Borneo. It's a little different to my usual posts in that this will be less people and photojournalism oriented, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

___________________________________

Kota Kinabalu's waterfront is where it all happens, and there's always a nice breeze present to relieve you from the tropical heat. Every day hundreds of boats make the short trip between the waterfront and the islands to deliver supplies, and fishing boats return in the evening to lay out their catch in the markets. The best part is that all the seafood can be cooked for you on the spot!

Climbing Mt. Kinabalu was easily the highlight of my trip. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I struggled with slight altitude sickness near the top. It was 2 days of solid, almost non-stop (3 hours sleep overnight) hiking. However it was well worth the effort in the end.

Wild raspberries (edible) on the way up

Pendant hut - our accommodation for the night, 3280m in the sky

Mountain guide with St. John's peak (2nd highest point) in the back. Taken just below the highest point (Low's Peak). My brother reached the top first - here's his pretty nifty certificate for the achievement.

The Kinabatangan river is renown in Borneo for it's abundance of wildlife. I've never really attempted any serious wildlife photography, so this was quite new to me. My equipment was a little limited (300mm max) so birds were out of the question. Technical limitations aside, I ended up with a few images I liked. These monkeys are long-tailed macaques:

A jungle nursery next to the Kinabatangan

My attempt at the 'blurred-forest' technique. Basically, set a slow shutter speed and pull the camera down while the shutter is open. It took a decent amount of experimentation to get a shot I liked.

A lantern bug. Borneo was chock full of the weirdest bugs I have ever seen in my life (it also holds the record for the longest bug in the world).

The entrance to 'Clearwater Cave'. I struggled a little to take photos in some of the caves for two reasons - one, I didn't have a tripod with me - two, some of the caves were so large, I wasn't able to capture the immensity with my 17-55mm.

___________________________________

All in all I really enjoyed my time here. We ate well and the people were very friendly. However it was a little frustrating having to photograph on such a short amount of time, as I would have loved to have spent longer in some locations (I could photograph the monkeys at Kinabatangan all day long).

Anyway, Hong Kong is next, a place I've visited a few times. I will be focusing a little more on the Buddhist/Taoist temples dotted throughout the city this time. Once again, thanks for taking the time to have a look!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sorry guys, it's been awhile since my last update. Haven't really photographed a whole lot lately. Fellow photographer Chris was nice enough to lend me his 70-200mm 2.8, so I took the opportunity to photograph some sports with it. I actually really enjoyed it. Also, this is the first time I've ever shot anything like this, so any critique is welcome.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

One of my favourite museums in NYC, along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). One great thing about both places is they have donation-based entry. The AMNH is huge, so a I spent a solid chunk of my day there. Finished it off with a visit to Shake Shack (upper west side) just around the corner. These guys belt out some of the best burgers in NY, so be prepared for massive queues. Well worth the wait though!